Brooklyn Film Festival 2011

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 02 June 2011 15:00

Written by L E Shannon

The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) is screening June 3 - 12, 2011 at indieScreen and the Brooklyn Heights Cinema in  Brooklyn, New York. BFF features a record number of 36 New York Citybased film directors with over a dozen projects shot in Brooklyn.

This year‛s theme is "Plot". "With Plot, the Festival intends to take a snapshot at the most controversial issues of our times while analyzing the evolution of plotting both in real life and in story telling. The focus [is] on the political and cultural behavior of individuals, groups, regions, and countries. The issues range from corporate takeovers to wars, from abusive relationships to the role of government in modern society."

The Opening Night film is the US Premiere of Battle For Brooklyn, directed by Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky. Shot over seven years and compiled from almost 500 hours of footage, Battle for Brooklyn is an epic tale of how far people will go to fight for what they believe in.

BFF has partnered with Rooftop Films to present this intensely intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by owners and residents facing condemnation of their property to make way for the controversial Atlantic Yards project, a massive plan to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in the heart of Brooklyn.

"We are extremely excited to be working with such strong Brooklyn institutions that have supported us for over a decade," said directors Hawley and Galinsky.

"Directors Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky, BFF alumni, have been working on this project since 2003 and we are proud to give voice to a Brooklyn community that has been fighting with limited resources and without much external support an enormous battle to save their own homes," said festival director Marco Ursino.

"We are also excited about the collaboration with Rooftop Films. Battle for Brooklyn is an important documentary that belongs to the community."

Other documentary features are:

DAMN!
dir. Aaron Fisher-cohen
This is the story of the charismatic New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, and his rise to international fame after his appearance on the 2010 gubernatorial debate. In what becomes an unforgettable journey, DAMN! is the only film to capture, as it all unfolds, the rise of a viral sensation and the media fixation that follows.

Skydancer
dir. Katja Esson (US/Germany)
For more than 120 years, six generations of Mohawk Ironworkers have raised America's modern cityscapes. They are called "sky walkers" because they walk fearlessly atop steel beams high above the city streets. On 9/11 Mohawk ironworkers from all over the country rushed to Ground Zero, dismantling what their grandfathers and fathers had built. But who are these men really? And what are their stories that we don't hear about in the media?

Some of the narrative features are:

Aardvark
dir. Kitao Sakurai
In perhaps the first narrative film to star a man blind since birth, Larry Lewis plays a solitary man recovering from alcoholism and working towards stability. When he joins a jiu-jitsu academy he finds a close friend in his young, hard-partying instructor, Darren. But as disturbing aspects of Darren's life are revealed, Larry soon finds himself alone and faced with the consequences of a horrific act of violence.

The Athlete / Atletu
dir. Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew
In 1960, an unknown, a barefoot Ethiopian man stunned the world by winning Olympic gold in the marathon, and became the first African to win a gold medal. A sports legend, and a hero in his own country and to the continent, Bikila was later the first person in history to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the marathon in Tokyo. The film focuses on the final years of Bikila's life; his quest to regain Olympic glory, his tragic accident, his determination to compete again. This soldier and quiet son of a shepherd is considered by many the greatest long-distance runner in history.

David
dir. Joel Fendelman
Daud is an 11-year-old religious Muslim boy growing up in Brooklyn. Concealing his Muslim identity, Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys who somehow mistake him for being Jewish and accept him as one of their own. A genuine bond of friendship is formed between Daud and Yoav, one of the Jewish boys. Daud experiences a sense of freedom, joy, and camaraderie that he has never felt before, and for a brief time enjoys being a carefree kid. When the Jewish boys discover Daud's true identity, Daud's world is shattered and he is left alone, struggling to come to terms with his place in the world.

BFF also screens a number of shorts, including animation and experimental films from around the world, as well as their 7th Annual Kids Film Fest.

For more information, go to www.brooklynfilmfestival.org.

Brooklyn Film Festival
June 3 - 12, 2011

indieScreen 
285 Kent Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brooklyn Heights Cinema 
70 Henry Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

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